Amchem Products, Inc. v. GAF Corp.

No. 76-3801 (594 F.2d 470) (5th Cir. May 7, 1979)

ELR Digest

In a suit by one chemical manufacturer against another and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the court rules that appellant is entitled to compensation for test data which was submitted by it with an application for a pesticide registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and which was subsequently relied upon by EPA in evaluating an application submitted by appellee manufacturer. Contrary to the opinion of the court below, the court rules that the 1972 amendments to § 3(c)(1)(D) of FIFRA, insofar as they required that compensation be offered by applicants for registration seeking the benefit of previously submitted data, were intended by Congress to be effective as of October 21, 1972. Thus, because appellee manufacturer's application was submitted subsequent to that date, it is obligated to make compensation available to appellant, notwithstanding that appellant submitted its data prior to that date. The court rejects, however, appellant's request that appellee's registration be voided for failure to offer compensation and for EPA's unpermitted reliance on trade secrets within appellant's submitted data. The legislative history of the Act shows that appellant's remedy is not invalidation of appellee's registration but compensation for use of its data.

The full text of this opinion is available from ELR (18 pp. $2.25, ELR Order No. C-1177).

Counsel for Appellant Amchem Products, Inc.
Kirk M. McAlpin
King & Spalding
2500 Trust Co. Towers, Atlanta GA 30303
(404) 572-4600

Counsel for Appellee GAF Corp.
J. D. Fleming, Jr.
Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan
3100 First Nat'l Bank Tower, Atlanta GA 30303
(404) 658-8700

counsel for Appellee Environmental Protection Agency
John W. Lyon
Office of the General Counsel
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC 20460
(202) 755-2511

Tjoflat, J.

[OPINION OMITTED BY PUBLISHER IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]